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General Order No. 11 (1862)
General Order No. 11 was the title of an order issued by Major-General Ulysses S. Grant on December 17, 1862, during the American Civil War. It became notorious for its instruction for the expulsion of all Jews in his military district comprising areas of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky. The order was issued as part of a campaign against a black market in Southern cotton, which Grant was convinced was being run "mostly by Jews and other unprincipled traders". Following protests from Jewish community leaders and an outcry by members of Congress and the press, it was revoked a few weeks later by order of President Abraham Lincoln. Grant later claimed it had been drafted by a subordinate and that he had signed it without reading. Background Despite the ongoing civil war, an extensive trade in cotton persisted between the North and South. Northern textile mills were dependent on Southern cotton, while the trade with the North was needed for the economic survival of Southern plantation owners. A limited trade was permitted by the US Government, under license by the Treasury and the US Army. However, this system led to extensive opportunities for corruption, with unlicensed traders bribing army officers to allow them to buy Southern cotton without a permit. Grant was responsible for issuing trade licenses in the Department of Tennessee, an administrative district of the Union Army that comprised the portions of Kentucky and Tennessee west of the Tennessee River, and Union-controlled areas of northern Mississippi. At the same time, he was heavily engaged in prosecuting the campaign to capture the heavily defended Confederate-held city of Vicksburg, Mississippi and was under pressure to deliver results. He resented having to deal with the distraction of the cotton trade and was angered by the endemic corruption of the system which saw "every colonel, captain or quartermaster ... in a secret partnership with some operator in cotton".See also Feldberg, M. (ed.), "General Grant's Infamy," Blessings of Freedom: Chapters in American Jewish History (American Jewish Historical Society 2002), at p. 119. He became convinced that Jews were mostly responsible for the black market in cotton and issued a number of directives aimed at black marketeers. On November 9, 1862, he sent an order to Major-General Stephen A. Hurlbut directing that he "Refuse all permits to come south of Jackson for the present. The Israelites especially should be kept out." The following day he instructed General Webster to "Give orders to all the conductors on the road that no Jews are to be permitted to travel on the railroad southward from any point. They may go north and be encouraged in it; but they are such an intolerable nuisance that the department must be purged of them."Korn, B., American Jewry and the Civil War (1951), at p. 143. In a letter to General William Tecumseh Sherman, he explained that his policy was occasioned "in consequence of the total disregard and evasion of orders by Jews".Frederic Cople Jaher, A Scapegoat in the New Wilderness, p. 199. Harvard University Press, 1994. ISBN 0674790073 The continuing prevalence of the illegal cotton trade prompted Grant to tighten restrictions further. On December 8, 1862, he issued General Order No. 2 mandating that "cotton-speculators, Jews and other Vagrants having not honest means of support, except trading upon the miseries of their Country ... will leave in twenty-four hours or they will be sent to duty in the trenches." Nine days later, on December 17, 1862, he issued his General Order No. 11 to strengthen his earlier prohibition. Grant's father Jesse Grant was involved; General James H. Wilson later explained, "There was a mean nasty streak in old Jesse Grant. He was close and greedy. He came down into Tennessee with a Jew trader that he wanted his son to help, and with whom he was going to share the profits. Grant refused to issue a permit and sent the Jew flying, prohibiting Jews from entering the line." Grant, Wilson felt, could not strike back directly at the "lot of relatives who were always trying to use him" and perhaps struck instead at what he maliciously saw as their counterpart — opportunistic traders who were Jewish.McFeely, p 124. Bertram Korn has suggested that the order was part of a consistent pattern. "This was not the first discriminatory order Grant had signed ... he was firmly convinced of the Jews' guilt and was eager to use any means of ridding himself of them."Bertram Korn, American Jewry and the Civil War, p. 143). Korn cites Grant's order of November 9 and 10, 1862, "Refuse all permits to come south of Jackson for the present. The Israelites especially should be kept out," and "no Jews are to be permitted to travel on the railroad southward from any point. They may go north and be encouraged in it; but ''they are such an intolerable nuisance that the department must be purged of them." Text of Grant's Order General Order No. 11 decreed as follows: In a letter of the same date sent to Christopher Parsons Wolcott, the assistant United States Secretary of War, Grant explained his reasoning: Reaction The order went into immediate effect, with Jewish traders and families in Holly Springs, Mississippi, Oxford, Mississippi, and Paducah, Kentucky being forced to leave the territory. Such a sweeping interpretation may not have been intended by Grant; his headquarters expressed no objection to the continued presence of Jewish sutlers, as opposed to cotton traders. However, the wording of the order singled out all Jews, irrespective of their occupation, and it was implemented accordingly. A group of Jewish merchants from Paducah, led by Cesar J. Kaskel, dispatched a telegram to President Abraham Lincoln in which they condemned the order as "the grossest violation of the Constitution and our rights as good citizens under it". The telegram noted it would "place us . . . as outlaws before the world. We respectfully ask your immediate attention to this enormous outrage on all law and humanity ...." Throughout the Union, Jewish groups protested and sent telegrams to Washington, D.C. The issue attracted significant attention in Congress and from the press. The Democrats condemned the order as part of what they saw as the US Government's systematic violation of civil liberties and tabled a motion of censure against Grant in the Senate, attracting thirty votes in favour against seven opposed. Some newspapers supported Grant's action; the Washington Chronicle criticised Jews as "scavengers ... of commerce". Most, however, were strongly opposed, with the New York Times denouncing the order as "humiliating" and a "revival of the spirit of the medieval ages." Its editorial column called for the "utter reprobation" of Grant's order.Robert Michael, A Concise History Of American Antisemitism, p. 91. Rowman & Littlefield, 2005. ISBN 0742543137 Kaskel led a delegation to Washington, D.C., arriving there on January 3, 1863. In Washington, he conferred with Jewish Republican Adolphus Solomons and a Cincinnati congressman, John A. Gurley. After meeting with Gurley, he went directly to the White House. Lincoln received the delegation and studied Kaskel's copies of General Order No. 11 and the specific order expelling Kaskel from Paducah. The President told General-in-Chief Henry Wager Halleck to have Grant revoke General Order No. 11, which Halleck did in the following message: all Jews from your department. If such an order has been issued, it will be immediately revoked.}} One of Halleck's staff officers privately explained to Grant that the problem lay with the excessive scope of the order: "Had the word 'pedlar' been inserted after Jew I do not suppose any exception would have been taken to the order." According to Halleck, Lincoln had "no objection to his expelling traitors and Jew peddlers, which I suppose, was the object of your order; but as in terms proscribing an entire religious class, some of whom are fighting in our ranks, the President deemed it necessary to revoke it." The Republican politician Elihu B. Washburne defended Grant in similar terms. However, Grant's subordinates expressed concern at the order. One Jewish officer resigned in protest and Captain John C. Kelton, the assistant Adjutant-General of the Department of Missouri, wrote to Grant to note his order included all Jews, rather than focusing on "certain obnoxious individuals," and pointed out the Jews serving in the Union Army.Brooks D. Simpson, Ulysses S. Grant: Triumph Over Adversity, 1822-1865, p. 165. Houghton Mifflin Books, 2000. ISBN 0395659949 The order was politically unsustainable and Grant formally revoked it on January 17, 1863. On January 6, a delegation led by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise of Cincinnati, called on Lincoln to express its gratitude for Lincoln's support. Lincoln expressed surprise Grant issued such a command and said, "to condemn a class is, to say the least, to wrong the good with the bad." He stated he drew no distinction between Jew and Gentile and would allow no American to be wronged because of his religious affiliation. Post-war repercussions After the Civil War, General Order No. 11 became an issue in the presidential election of 1868 in which Grant stood as the Republican candidate. The Democrats raised the order as an issue, with the prominent Jewish Democrat and rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise urging fellow Jews to vote against Grant because of his alleged antisemitism. Grant repudiated the controversial order, asserting it had been drafted by a subordinate and he signed the document without reading. He wrote in reply to a correspondent: The episode did not cause much long-term damage to his relationship with the American Jewish community and he won the presidential election, taking the majority of the Jewish vote. Attends Synagogue Dedication Grant's anti-Semitic General Order #11 in 1862 resulted in the involuntary deportation of Jewish Americans from military zones and severely damaged Grant's reputation among many Jewish leaders. Although the motivations with Grant were political, Grant did his best to restore and maintain good relations with the Jewish community. In an effort of reconciliation, 12 years after the order, President Grant and all the members in his Cabinet attended a dedication of the Adas Israel Congregation in Washington D.C. The dedication ceremony took place in 1874. This was the first time an American President attended a synagogue service. References External links * General Grant's Infamy at Jewish Virtual Library * Judaic Treasures of the Library of Congress: Order No. 11 * Grant, Lincoln, and General Order Number 11 Category:Jewish American history 11 (1862) Category:American Civil War documents Category:Kentucky in the American Civil War Category:Tennessee in the American Civil War Category:Mississippi in the American Civil War Category:1862 in the United States Category:Judaism-related controversies Category:Antisemitism in the United States da:General Order No. 11 fr:Ordre général n° 11 he:הצו לגירוש היהודים ממחוז טנסי